The State of Aviation Security - Is Our Current System Capable of Meeting the Threat?

1/20/2010

Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation

Chairman Rockefeller and Ranking Member Hutchinson: As President of the National Treasury Employees Union, I represent 150,000 federal employees, including tens of thousands of Customs and Border Protection Officers and Transportation Security Officers at the Department of Homeland Security. These brave men and women perform valuable and dangerous work protecting our travelers. We appreciate your committee’s efforts to review and evaluate what happened in the Christmas day bombing attempt on Northwest Flight 253.

While it is clear that frontline TSA personnel were not involved, or in any way responsible for the Christmas day incident, we believe that there are many issues facing frontline TSA personnel, the resolution of which could greatly enhance their ability to successfully provide the most effective transportation security system in the world.

First, we believe that TSA desperately needs experienced, permanent leadership and we appreciate your approval of the nomination of Erroll Southers to be TSA Administrator. We hope to see quick action on the Southers nomination this week.

There are, however, serious policy considerations that are impeding TSA’s effectiveness. When the Transportation Security Administration was created, the goal was to create a professional, stable, experienced workforce. Nine years later, TSA has one of the highest attrition rates, close to the highest injury rate and the lowest morale in the federal government. Clearly, these facts are evidence that the goals of the Act are not being met.

NTEU believes there are a number of factors contributing to the disturbing trends at TSA that need to be addressed. The most critical is the inadequate pay of Transportation Security Officers. The Congressional Budget Office estimated that TSOs are paid roughly $1,700 less per year than their counterparts in the General Schedule pay system in effect for the majority of the federal workforce.

This past October, a review of the adequacy of pay for frontline Customs and Border Protection personnel led Secretary Napolitano, with strong support from NTEU, to order an upgrade for CBP law enforcement related positions. We urge a similar review for Transportation Security Officers and believe that upgrading their pay to reflect their mission critical duties would lead to a distinct improvement in the agency’s ability to recruit and retain a highly skilled, professional workforce.

We also believe that training practices for Transportation Security Officers need to be reviewed and improved. Training procedures for TSOs should be state of the art, but they are not.

Our TSO members also tell us, and TSA management has acknowledged that nationally set policies are often not followed by local managers. This is unacceptable and must be addressed. Poor workforce management has led TSOs to seek collective bargaining so that they will have a way to address these pressing workplace problems, and make TSA the most professional, effective and efficient agency possible. We know that you understand, Mr. Chairman, that collective bargaining helps to develop fair, credible and transparent processes without interfering with management rights to accomplish agency missions.

We are encouraged by Mr. Southers’ statements that he sees great value in listening to the views and suggestions of frontline federal workers. TSA employees have a lot of ideas about how to improve the work place and enhance security practices that are not being tapped into. It would be my hope that, with the Committee’s oversight, NTEU can work together with TSA management to develop a system that would encourage, recognize and reward employees for such contributions.

Our NTEU Transportation Security Administration members are patriotic Americans. They want to ensure that we have the most secure transportation system possible. I believe these recommended actions would greatly enhance their ability to meet that important objective.

Thank you.